John Prince, author of the Crowsnest Pass Blog, has expressed some concerns over reader apathy. He’s frustrated with writing, not sure if his message is falling on deaf ears. He writes:
It seems my blog posts are well read, but they generate ‘no comment’ with respect to what others think and feel about our ‘modern world’. Maybe, I should start another blog with broader appeal, rather than limiting it as I do somewhat, to mainly the Crowsnest Pass area?
Mr. Prince, don’t fret – your experience is nothing new in the blogosphere. I have been tracking the rate of blog churn in Alberta for some time, and we’re about on par with the rest of the global blogosphere. Many people start blogging and end up abandoning their blogs for similar reasons. This is roughly half of all bloggers. They may not have had the readership they desired. In that sense, perhaps it is not fulfilling their need to be heard. In Mr. Prince’s case, the issue is a lack of comments: there’s no two-way feedback between reader and writer, the very feature that’s supposed to make this platform of media superior to other forms of text-based communication.
Blogging is inherently a niche media, so every blog is going to appeal to a narrow band of readers. Have a look at The Long Tail to learn more.
Blogging costs are approaching near-zero, which frees the author from many of the contraints imposed by other forms of media. If I were running a newspaper, I’d have advertisers hounding me to increase my readership, when in fact, I’m perfectly content not to make money blogging. I can write whatever the hell I want on here. For me, blogging is about excercising my Charter rights more than anything. I’m content to have a few dedicated commenters, with the odd newbie dropping a line from time to time. I don’t care too much for the vile content that fills long comment threads. I’m happy to have a handful of wheat that I don’t have to filter from the chaff; it makes the discourse much better not to have a roving mob of commenters.
Nevertheless, if one wanted to increase the number of comments on their blog, how might they do it? Here’s a list.
1. Comment on other blogs. It sounds simple, and it works. If you go to someone’s blog, provide an insightful witty or compelling comment that will drive people to click on your Blogger profile to look you up. Take some time and provide a thoughtful comment, not just ‘nice post!’ or ‘great work’. I have found countless other blogs by going through the comments. Most of the time, people will make reccomendations for further research (if the blog post is research oriented), or their comment will be so funny that I’ll have to find out who they are. The best way to make friends is to be a friend, and this applies to the comments section of a blog just as well as it does in ‘real’ life.
2. Leave the first comment. As the total number of comments increases towards the infinite, the probability that a reader will skim through the entire thread approaches zero. Thus, when commenting on other high-volume comment threads, it’s important to be #1. Why? To get clicks.
3. Increase your readership. As Mr. prince notes:“It seems my blog posts are well read, but they generate ‘no comment’ with respect to what others think and feel about our ‘modern world’.” Solution: calculate the number of comments per reader, and increase your readership by this factor to get the desired level of comments. You can tell by looking at SDA, which is probably Canada’s most well-read blog, that Kate has a massive reader base. I am a self-admitted SDA Lurker. I’m there every day, but comment maybe two days a year, which is less than a 1% rate of comment volume per blog post.
4. Respond to comments, in the comments. I don’t do this enough, but it’s important to do. Thank people for their comment, or just snipe back and get right into it. Comments are the trenches of blogosphere discourse, where all the good stuff happens. If your readers feel the discourse is just one-way, what’s the point of them commenting?
5. Engage in blog carnivals. Here in Alberta, we used to do a ‘Wild Rose Roundup’, where a blogger would visit every recently updated blog on the Alberta Blogs blogroll, and link to the posts they thought were worth people’s time to read. Most of the time, you just get a ‘thank you’ for your efforts, but it’s an easy way to not only ingratiate yourself to your fellow blogroll members, but to actually get to know which blogs you like.
6. Blog people’s comments. If someone takes the time to write an excellent, informative blog comment, and if you have something good to add, then by all means – blog the comment. You could even nominate a weekly comment of the month. This rewards people for not only commenting, but for the comment’s quality and content.
7. Do a monthly roundup of your blog posts. At month’s end, gather what you’ve written together into one blog entry, with links to the original entries. This is like a monthly ‘Cole’s Notes’ of your blog, which will recycle older material past your reader’s eyes. They may not have commented previously, but seeing it again could trigger responses. It’s just like fly fishing.
8. Learn to write headlines. While this has more to do with generating readership, it indirectly increases comments. If you are blogging windmill construction, don’t write “Windmill construction in Alberta”. Instead, write: “Alberta to invest $3 billion slaughtering bats“. The title may be slightly misleading, but partly true. The blog entry was not complete and authoritative, which feeds into the next strategy:
9. Don’t be complete. If you’re not an expert, say it. You’ll get people offering input and leads if you’re humble about the subject matter. Take one position, don’t waffle while trying to cover every facet of a subject, and let the rest of the counter-points be developed by your commenters. I’d prefer reading a blog entry by someone who doesn’t know it all, than I would by someone who purports to be an authority for the simple fact that my input will likely be better received by the former than the latter.
10. Ask people what they think. Simply asking your readers what they think shows them you value their input. It shows your recognition of the fact that other people can add value to the discussion by commenting. In that spirit, what do you readers think?
Sources:
Problogger: 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog
Seth Godin: Why I Don’t Have Comments
Lifehacker: Geek to Live: Lifehacker’s guide to weblog comments
Neville Hobson: Ten tips for encouraging blog comments
Cool Cat Teacher: How to comment like a King (or Queen)
DoshDosh: Rethinking Blog Comments: Much More Than Just A Quick Way to Get Web Traffic
Instigator Blog: 5 Blog writing tips to get more comments
Legal Andrew: 10 Quick Methods to Increase Blog Comments
